BRUSSELS - If the European Union fails to agree on an oil embargo on Russia, it would be difficult to trigger other elements of a proposed sixth package of sanctions on Russia, a senior European Commission official said on Monday.
"It is true - if there was no agreement on it either today or in the next days ... we would have difficulties with the rest of the package.
"But since we're confident that over time there will be a solution, I don't see a reason to think that one could split it (the package) or it would even make sense to split it."
EU leaders said they would not agree on a Russian oil import ban at a summit in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, acknowledging that weeks of haggling over the matter were not over yet.
Other elements of the latest package of sanctions include cutting Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT messaging system, banning Russian broadcasters from the EU and adding more people to a list whose assets are frozen.
